Law officers, acting on a U.S. warrant Tuesday, captured a U.S. citizen
wanted to face multiple charges of fraud. The man is suspected of being
one of nine persons who ran a series of scams from Costa Rica that
collected up to $13 million from customers in the United States.

The products offered for sale ranged from franchises to sell coffee,
health insurance and what was called energy products, said
investigators.

The call center employees used voice-over-Internet protocol and U.S.
mail drops to disguise the fact they were based out of the country,
according to the Judicial Investigating Organization. The call center
was based in Escazú and later in Office Centro la Sabana.

An agency spokesperson said that the operation had been going on for at
least four years and that the suspect arrested Tuesday faced 450
separate cases.

The Judicial Investigating Organization did not give a name, but the
suspect is believed to be Jeff Pearson, 36, who has been linked to a
number of franchise sales operations here. The man was detained in
Santa Ana where he was traveling with bodyguards. Investigators later
searched his luxury home in Rohrmoser where they confiscated evidence
that will be sent to the United States.

Pearson was last in the news in April 2006 when A.M. Costa Rica
reported on a coffee franchise sales deal that used voice-over-Internet
protocol and U.S. mail drops.

The firm was Twin Peaks Gourmet Coffee, which was born after the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the consumer watchdog there, convinced a
judge to shut down USA Beverages, which was selling a coffee rack
business opportunity using a product under the brand name of Cafe Del
Rey. Customers paid from $35,000 to $85,000 to buy the racks for
consumer distribution.

The coffee pitch was directed to semi-retired and

retired, particularly those with little
business knowledge and the most
vulnerable. In fact, the Twin Peaks Web page addressed this market:

"With corporate America downsizing and the stability of Social Security
questionable, pension plans are no longer the most secure investment in
one's future. The only security you have today is the security you
acquire for yourself."

The company found potential customers by placing classified ads in U.S.
newspapers.

The Federal Trade Commission obtained a civil default judgment that
basically turned over everything USA Beverage owned to the government.
When Twin Peaks was reborn a short time later, it used a Web page
hosted in England.

Listed as being involved with USA Beverage, in addition to Pearson,
were Dilraj Mathauda, Sirtaj Mathauda, David Mead and Silvio Carrano.
All are believed to be or have been in Costa Rica.

The Federal Trade Commission estimated that telephone sales brought in
$2.5 million to USA Beverages alone.

The civil case was heard in U.S. District Court in Florida's Southern
Judicial District. Typically such civil investigations lead to criminal
charges in extreme cases.

USA Beverage is one of a number of companies that took advantage of
technology to contact potential customers in the United States at
reasonable rates. Some of these companies were crooked and sold items
they had no intention of delivering. One company sold new computers at
a deeply discounted price. But it had no computers. It may still be in
business using bilingual Ticos and expats to make sales calls.

USA Beverage did deliver sales racks and other items, but the Federal
Trade Commission said the employees misrepresented the potential
income from such ventures and violated the U.S. franchise rules.

High labor court rejects bias due to worker's nationality in
Santa Ana

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

In a decision that has relevance for expats, the Sala 2 supreme labor
court has upheld a lower court decision that a man was fired from his
job by the Municipalidad de Santa Ana because of his nationality.

The high court supported the lower court ruling that the man, a
Colombian, be reinstated with all back benefits.

The case developed in June 2004. The employee has the last names
of Alcalá Segovia, and he worked as a financial
administrator for the municipality, according to a summary of the court
decision released Tuesday. He was fired because, said the

municipality, he did not met the
expectations of the requirements of the job. The employee claimed he
was let go because of his nationality, and there was some testimony
supporting this claim.

The Juzgado de Trabajo de Mayor Cuantía del Segundo Circuito
Judicial
de San José did not find merit in the man's argument, but an
appeals
court, the Tribunal de Trabajo, Sección Tercera, did. Then the
municipality appealed to the nation's highest labor court, part of the
Corte Suprema de Justicia. The court said that Costa Rican
Constitution, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and the American treaty on human rights prohibited
discrimination based on nationality.
The man will receive back pay, vacation pay and aguinaldos as well as
reinstatement.

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Two separate kidnappings took place on the highways last week. One
involved a businessman of Israeli descent and the other took place in
broad daylight, said the Judicial Investigating Organization.

According to reports, the first case involved a resident of Costa Rica,
originally from Israel, who was stopped by a gang of men while driving
his car down a public highway in Pavas at 11:45 p.m. Friday. The
kidnappers demanded payment in dollars from the man's family, who
complied. The man, identified as Fred Kushner, 42, owns and runs a
business here. He was released at midnight on Monday in Llano Grande in
Cartago.

Although the Organization of Judicial Investigations does not
officially release numbers regarding ransoms in kidnapping cases, a
source told A.M. Costa Rica that the man's family paid less than what
the kidnappers originally demanded. Another source said they paid
$15,000.

A factory owner was also kidnapped Dec. 2, when his vehicle was
intercepted as he drove down a public highway in Zapote at 3 p.m.

Five kidnap suspects, one Colombian, one Peruvian, one Dominican, one
Panamanian, and one Tico, eventually were detained. A kidnapper called
the man's family, demanding a ransom of $50,000. That same day, when
the suspects arrived at the location where they were supposed to pick
up the money, they were detained by judicial agents.

Priest's sentence reduced
in Radio María fraud case

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A court in Heredia has reduced the fraud sentence handed out a year ago
to Catholic priest Minor de Jesús Calvo Aguilar. He was
the Radio María figure who had been on trial for the murder of
commentator Parmenio Medina Pérez.

The decision by the trial court means that Calvo could soon be free
because he served more than three years of preventative detention after
his arrest at Christmastime 2003. Parole can be granted after a
prisoner serves half of the sentence.

The Poder Judicial confirmed the new sentence Tuesday. Calvo was
sentenced to 15 years in December 2007 but he was acquitted of the
murder charge. He was convicted on fraud.

However on appeal the Sala Tercera high criminal court threw out
the sentence and sent the case back to the trial court for a new
sentence.

Calvo's associate, businessman Omar Chaves Mora got a total of 47 years
for fraud and murder.

Both men ran Radio Maria, which Medina criticized on his own radio show.

A car pulled alongside the radio commentator's sport utility vehicle
near his Heredia home and gunned him down July 7, 2001. Prosecutors
claimed that the three young men inside were paid to kill Medina. One
young man, a a known criminal, also was convicted. But six other
persons were acquitted.

Guanacaste tourism chamber
urges responsible actions

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Guanacaste tourism chamber has called upon businessmen involved in
such projects to act responsibly and with respect for the environment.

The chamber, the Cámara de Turismo Guanacasteca, also said it
supported the Ministerio de Salud, which had closed down construction
of the Hotel Riu in Playa Matapalo. Health ministry officials also are
inspecting the conditions of the estimated 796 workers on the
construction site and their temporary living quarters in and around
Sardinal.

The health ministry closed down the site after a worker died. Work
resumed Thursday.

The chamber said that the publicity had given the area a black eye and
affected the image of the area.

Road closed for tree cutting

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Highway crews will close part of the Río Birrís-Caseta
Cobro road in Oreamuno de Cartago this morning from 8 a.m. to noon so
they can cut down a tree.

The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said that the tree is hanging over the
road and presenting a possible dangerous situation.

Lawmakers discussing ways to finance protection of witnesses and
victims seem to have come to an agreement that a new tax is needed.
They will suggest that a tax be imposed on the interest from bonds
issued in foreign currencies.

The discussion was in the Comisión Especial de Seguridad
Ciudadana, which is expected to soon report the measure to the full
legislature.

The proposal still is vague, but committee members figure the
protection will cost about 2 billion colons or about $3.6 million.
Costa Rica now taxes interest on bonds and commercial paper denominated
in colons.

In a Nov. 19 session, lawmakers suggested an 8 percent tax. That would
require some $45.3 million in interest to generate sufficient money.
Others have suggested that protection of witnesses would cost from 2.5
billion to 3 billion colons or about $4.5 and $5.4 million.

Until lawmakers actually pass an
amendment to the proposed law they are
considering, computing the cost of such a tax will be difficult. In
addition, a tax would tend to cause investors to put their money
elsewhere, reducing total income.

The new tax would finance an office of protection of witnesses and
victims. The Corte Suprema de Justicia would administer the program,
lawmakers said.

Evita Arguedas Maklouf, a member of the committee, said that the bill
would be tied to the national budget, too, so that any shortfalls would
come from general revenues.

Under the proposal, the tax would be assessed on all bonds and notes
issued by the government, public banks or private banks in Costa Rica.
Many of these bonds are purchased by international buyers, so the tax
would have to be collected in Costa Rica before interest was paid. That
would reduce the real yield on the bonds, perhaps causing the
international investors to demand slightly more in interest rates.

President adds his support
for constitutional changes

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Reform of the Costa Rican Constitution is something officials in the
Arias administration have been chewing on for some time, according to
President Óscar Arias Sánchez, who has returned from a
round-the-world trip to the Arab Emirates and Singapore.

While he was gone, his brother, Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, the
minister of the Presidencia, brought up the idea of a citizen assembly
to make changes to the existing Constitution.

Óscar Arias said that not all his ministers had participated in
the
discussion but that changes are needed to the structure of the state
via constitutional reform, which would be

the easiest and most
expeditious.

Still unclear are the exact changes Arias seeks. He has been frustrated
for a long time at the slow process that finally resulted in the
approval of the Central American Free Trade Treaty. Much of the
program he put forth in his election platform in 2005 still are bills
in the Asamblea Legislativa.

"This is a country with a fossilized state where we have a mountain of
rights without any responsibility, and this makes the state unable to
progress, sometimes paralyzed for the love of paralyzing things," said
Arias in a prepared statement. "This is not valid and not part of a
democratic system."

Pity the bats: Lots of ideas
offered to evict them or worse

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A reader, Steve Petretti, going batty with bats in his attic in San
Buenaventura now has a lot of options.

One reader suggested stuffing the attic with mothballs so the fumes
would drive out the bats. Plus this reader thinks that Petretti
is facing bat threats from two types because he said bats were feeding
on his livestock. That suggests vampire bats in addition
insect-chasing flying rodents.

Other readers suggested electronic devices designed to chase away rats
and mice to simply sealing up the space after the bats fly out at
dusk for food.

Another reader related his experiences: "We tried pouring boiling
water, shooting them with bird shots and a few other unsuccessful
attempts. After a while we just ignored them."

Petretti said he was concerned with bat droppings leaking through his
ceiling, and one reader said this was a legitimate concern: "Apart from
the collection of bat droppings (which you would be surprise at the
amount generated given time) there is the danger that if rain got into
your attic that ugly brown stain would seep down through the joints of
your tongue and groove ceiling."

Another pointed out the possible health menace.

A bat-eating boa and installing lights in the attic were other
suggestions.

A man from Talamanca, Ray Schlabach,
had these suggestions:

Our house had a corrugated tin roof above the attic. Bats lived
in
the space between the roof and the soffit underneath, but also flew in
the attic. It was almost impossible to seal them out. I note on
Internet that they recommend a bat house. OUR house was the bat house!

Here are some things that worked:

1.) I sprayed liquid aldrin into their living space above the
soffit.
But aldrin has now been banned in Costa Rica. Dead bats dry up,
so
don't worry about the smell.

2.) We had bats roost in our stairway at night. A tiny electric bulb
burning all night kept them from roosting during the night.

3) In Heredia we had a problem with the bat(s) sleeping in our laundry
room.

In Dallas at Home Depot we bought an electric rodent controller.
About $27. (They didn't have anything for bats.) This is supposed to
work thru walls, and range can be extended with stringing extra
electric wiring.
We
tried it, and it works for bats, even tho it says it is for rats.
It
may take several days to convince the bats (or rats) not to
return. It
is made by GLOBA INSTRUMENTS LTD, Trenton, MO 64683 USA.
Model number PAC- PLUS. They might even make gadgets for
bats. I don't know.

Mexico's attorney general says the murder rate from increasingly
powerful drug cartels has more than doubled in the past year, and the
situation is going to get worse.

The attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, said 5,376 people have been
murdered in drug cartel-related violence this year. That is a
117-percent increase compared to the first 11 months of 2007, and he
said the violence is likely to grow worse before it peaks.

The cartels are not only using violence as an implement to achieve
their aims, they also have vast amounts of money at their fingertips,
which Mexican authorities say they are using as a multi-pronged weapon
of corruption.

Mexican authorities recently arrested the former head of Mexico's
federal anti-narcotics effort, Noe Ramírez. He is accused
of accepting a $450,000 bribe from a narcotics cartel in return for
information.

Medina Mora said the arrest was achieved because of close and crucial
cross-border intelligence cooperation with the United States.

"The real problem of trust comes from the fact that you deny the
problems, or you do nothing about them," said Medina Mora. "When you
face them with determination, this is how you build trust and this is
what we are doing with the invaluable support of the U.S. Department of
Justice and the DEA," meaning the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The United States is providing México with almost half of the
first $400 million from the $1.4-billion Merida Initiative. The money
is being used for helicopters, planes, inspection equipment and
training programs.

The Mexican ambassador for North American affairs, Carlos Rico, said
the U.S. assistance sends a clear message to the drug cartels that
Mexico is not alone in its struggle with the criminal organizations.

"The basic message is that Mexico and the United States are committed
to fully cooperating against a common enemy, organized crime," said
Rico. "Transnational organized crime is a menace to the populations of
both countries, and we are fully committed on both sides of the border
to fight with all our might against that scourge."

Rico said that vigilance and hard
work have uncovered major corruption that threatens both countries.

"As anyone who looks at the problem from a realistic point of view will
know, the kinds of resources, I am not just talking of financial
resources, not even arms, the kinds of weapons these people have, gives
them a tremendous leverage against all governments of the world," he
said. "ATF in its own statements to the U.S. Congress said that over 90
percent of U.S. weapons that are taken from organized crime in Mexico
come from the U.S." He was referring to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms.

In Rico's view, the fundamental problem is the continuing demand for
illegal narcotics in the United States, which remains largely
undiminished.

"The key market in this case is a U.S. market, that in spite of very,
very impressive efforts that the U.S. government has put into reducing
demand, it has remained as pretty much as it used to be a few years
ago," said Rico. "So, as long as that demand is there and the
impressive possibility of amazing profits of illegal operators and
criminal organizations, it is going to be pretty much impossible for
México to solve the issue."

Rico says officials are determined to press on with the fight against
drug corruption, but his optimism is confronted by torture, beheadings
and other mutilations that are becoming commonplace in some parts of
Mexico, as the cartels fight a murderous war for multi-million dollar
routes into the United States.

"I am convinced that we will prevail," he said. "We will be facing, of
course very, very significant challenges. Many people may feel
discouraged at some point. But I am convinced, fully convinced — and
this is something that President Calderón has injected in all of
us.
His commitment has really permeated into all of his collaborators. We
are convinced that we will prevail." Felipe Calderón has put the
military into the streets to fight drugs.

But the challenges to the government and Mexican society are daunting.
In addition to the growing number of drug-related murders during the
past year, a judge recently ordered the arrest of Mexico's former
acting federal police chief, Gerado Gary. According to the Attorney
General's Office, he is accused of connections with a drug cartel.

Each day someone complains via e-mail that the
newspages are from
yesterday or the day before. A.M. Costa Rica staffers check every page
and every link when the newspaper is made available at 2 a.m. each
week day.

So the problem is with the browser in each reader's computer.
Particularly when the connection with the server is slow, a
computer will look to the latest page in its internal memory and serve
up that page.

Readers should refresh the page and, if necessary, dump the cache of
their computer, if this problem persists. Readers in Costa Rica have
this problem frequently because the local Internet provider has
continual problems.

Searching

The A.M. Costa Rica search page
has a list of all previous editions by date and a space to search for
specific words and phrases. The search will return links to archived
pages.

Newspages

A typical edition will consist of a front page and four
other
newspages. Each of
these pages can be reached by links near the top and bottom of the
pages.

A.M. Costa Rica makes its monthly statistics available
to advertisers
and readers. It is HERE!

Contacting us

Both the main telephone number and the editor's e-mail
address are
listed on the front
page near the date.

Visiting us

Directions to our office and other data, like bank
account numbers are
on the about
us page.

China seeks pact in Brazil
to explore offshore fields

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Brazil's energy minister said China is offering to help his country develop huge offshore oil fields with a $10 billion loan.

Edison Lobao told a Brazilian newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo, in an
interview published Monday that Chinese officials have offered to loan
the money to Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras.

Lobao said other offers of funding for oil field development have come
from the United Arab Emirates and companies in Japan and Canada.

Brazil has discovered what it said are massive offshore oil reserves
beneath the sea floor and under the earth's pre-salt layer. Drilling
for oil at such depths will require expensive technology.

The Brazilian energy minister said developing the oil fields will be profitable only if crude prices stay above $30 a barrel.

Brazil estimates these oil reserves contain up to 14 billion barrels of crude.

Petrobras is due to announce a new oil field investment plan later this month.

China and Russia lead
list of bribery sources

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

A new survey says companies in Russia and China are among the most likely to pay bribes to win business opportunities abroad.

The report was released Tuesday by a Berlin-based anti-corruption
organization, Transparency International. It ranks 22 of the most
influential economies based on interviews with business executives from
around the world.

Russian firms were rated most likely to engage in bribery, followed by Mexico, China and India.

Companies in Belgium and Canada were least likely to offer bribes. The
United States was ranked near the middle of the list - tied with
Singapore and France.

The survey says companies looking for public works construction
projects are most likely to try to gain influence with public
officials. Real estate and oil and gas companies are the next most
serious offenders.

Transparency International says it hopes the list encourages governments and companies to increase anti-corruption measures.

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